Church Of St John The Baptist

The Church of St John the Baptist is an Anglican parish church dating from the 11th century, with significant additions and alterations in the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, and a restoration around 1870. Primarily constructed of coursed and squared lias with freestone dressings, it has low-pitched lead roofs. The church comprises a nave, chancel, north aisle, west tower, and south porch, displaying a predominantly Perpendicular style with earlier features.

The west tower is embattled and buttressed, featuring two stages with pinnacles, a stair turret with a spirelet, two-light bell chamber windows with quatrefoil interlace, a four-light west window, a sundial and prominent gargoyles. The five-bay nave has buttressed walls with three-light windows and a clerestory with three-light windows, punctuated by shafted pinnacles carved with animal figures. A buttressed south porch has an ashlar frontage and pinnacles, and an early Norman doorway displaying chevron decoration. The two-bay chancel features three-light windows and a five-light east window. Below the east window is a large 18th-century monument. The north aisle is characterised by buttresses, an arcaded parapet with pinnacles, gargoyles, and two and three-light windows, incorporating an Early English doorway with roll-mouldings.

Inside, the church features flagstone floors, encaustic tiles in the chancel, and plastered walls. A north aisle arcade, dating from approximately 1150, consists of octagonal piers with scallop capitals. The chancel arch is of Perpendicular style, dating from 1410-90. The roofs are particularly noteworthy; the nave and north aisle roofs have tie-beams, cusped struts, corbels and angel bosses, while the chancel roof is panelled with angel bosses and corbels. The porch also has a fine roof. Notable interior features include an elaborate piscina in the chancel, sedilia with a quatrefoil arcade, and a squint. A further piscina is set within the north aisle chapel, along with a corbel carved as an angel. An Easter Sepulchre sits in a recess, its arch decorated with ball-flower motifs. A carved oak screen from the 15th century remains, adorned with an arcade of vine leaves and grapes, some original colouring being visible. An upper entrance suggests a former rood loft. The octagonal font of the 13th century is lead-lined, having a semi-circular headed niche on each face. A late 19th-century stone pulpit is also present. The Jacobean altar rail features turned and twisted balusters, accompanied by two contemporary chairs and a chest. Six 18th-century wall monuments are located within the church, with the most significant being the monument to Maria Huntley of 1728 in the chancel, alongside several 18th and 19th-century floor memorials. Further 19th-century wall monuments, some in brass, are also present. Contemporary pews and an organ are included, along with a 19th-century strongbox and a painted plaque under the tower detailing lands belonging to the church, bearing the inscription "R Rice Bristol Fecit" and dated 1749. Some medieval glass remains in the north-east and south-east chancel windows and the east window of the aisle, with the remainder dating from the 19th and early 20th centuries.